The characters are the property of the Tolkien EstateWith grateful thanks to Raksha

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Walk no more in Shadows

“Walk no more in shadows, but awake,” I tell him. I sense so many shadows, not all caused by Sauron’s minions.

Those shades reach far back into the past, overshadowing the small child deprived of a mother's love, the restless youth vainly striving for his father’s approval; the darkness of a brother’s deeds and death. Darkest of all is the shadow of the father slain by his own hand, who would have consigned his son to the flames.

Walk no more in shadows cast by others. Awake, O Jewel of Gondor, to walk in the sun at my right hand!

Awakening

Faramir’s eyes open, the clear grey of a true child of Númenor. He resembles me as a son might. His eyes meet mine.

I expect to see confusion in his gaze. Instead, he looks at me with love and recognition, almost as if he expected to see me.

“What does the king command?” he asks me, thus bringing closer my dreams of marriage and heirs.

Love springs between us. Friendship and fealty both, kindled in that instant.

I smile, my heart gladdened to have snatched this prize from Sauron’s grasp.

Gondor has need of this son and so will I.

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A/N Some phases are taken from "The Return of the King”. Tolkien uses the phase. "Love sprang between them" in an earlier draft, which is published in HOME "The War of the Ring."